"From Fishing to Farmers Markets" ....news & events, issues & ideas

Monday, October 27, 2003

Smokey Seas and Flooded Farms

Captain Steve and crew are out fishing squid tonight. They report that the sky was grey, yellow, and very smokey this weekend and that the boat was covered in black grime. On the run out to the Channel Islands, they saw soot scooting along the surface of the ocean all the way. Let's hope the rain comes soon to subdue the flames...

The University and the West Seattle Farmers Markets were bustling this weekend. The sunny weather was a wonderful respite from the drenching rain of last week. Our neighbor John, from Nature's Last Stand ( Carnation, WA), had flood water over half of his crops last week from the Snoqualmie River. He explained to me that his beets, spinach ,kale, and other veggies will mostly survive, but they'll be stressed. Our friends from Alden Farms ( Monroe,WA) had a lot of flooding in their potato fields from the Skykomish and the Snoqualmie Rivers. I drove to Pelican Packers, the custom cannery in Bellingham who packs our albacore, on one of last week's stormy days. The rivers running under I-5 , such as the Skagit and the Stilliquamish, were high, brown , and running fast with whole trees and logs floating alongside pumpkins and branches. When Steve and I used to fish Puget Sound for dogs (chum salmon) in the Fall, we had to carry a pike pole to push logs out of the net. A log in the seine could be a lot of extra work!

Sunday night I volunteered to help at a FORKS fund raiser. FORKS (Fields, Oceans, Ranches, Kitchens & Stewards) is an affiliate of Chefs Collaborative. It was a celebration called "Baja to Portage Bay" featuring Puget Sound Keta caught by John Foss and organic produce from Alvarez Farm of Mabton,WA. We assembled the food in the kitchen of Agua Verde owned by the Stewarts. Fish tacos, fresh salad, wine & beer, and a delicious tres leches cake were on the menu. Bill Stewart and John Foss talked about their efforts to promote healthy eating and fishing. There was a generous idea offered of setting up a pool of volunteers to help farmers in time of floods and adverse weather. The Stewarts told me that so many volunteers showed up in Mt Vernon to help sandbag the Skagit River that a registration booth was set up to handle the three hundred or so folks who wanted to help. Where was this story in the news??
To learn more about FORKS.http://www.forksproject.org

There are two articles from our tuna research group called AFRF, the American Fishermans Research Foundation. We contribute to albacore research by paying $20 per ton of fish we catch. This goes toward tagging studies, lipid studies, and public education. Papa George Tuna is listed on their website. These articles are listed in "Public Education" . They are called "New Tuna in Town" and "Maternal and Infant Health" . I think they are excellent studies of how beneficial troll caught albacore can be as a regular item in one's diet. http://www.afrf.org/main.asp

The Papa George is tuna fishing and pulling in some big slabs ( an albacore of 25 lbs. or more). My winter supply of fish for our online store is soon to be delivered!
This week found me filletting sardines and mackerel at Felix Custom Smoking in Monroe. I'll have lots of smoked sardines and smoked spanish mackerel to sell at the University and West Seattle markets this weekend.